It is a perennial herbaceous spore plant. Horsetails are the remnants and "heirs" of an ancient group of plants that reached maximum diversity in the Carboniferous period.
The tree-like relatives of horsetails, the Kalamites, were more than 10 m in height with a trunk diameter of up to 0.5 m.
Modern horsetails look much more modest, they are all herbaceous plants with relatively thin stems..
However, horsetail is difficult to confuse with any other plant. Horsetail has tough, ribbed, silica-rich stems, and the leaves are small and fused together.
In many species, side branches diverge from the main stem, giving the plants a resemblance to a small herringbone.
how slavic name "Horsetail" and the Latin equisetum (equus - horse; seta, setae - bristles, coarse hair) reflect the similarity of horsetail shoots with the tail of an animal.
Recognizing weeds "in the face"
One of common species horsetails are well known to many owners of household plots - this is a field horsetail.
It is widespread in all regions of Ukraine.
As a rule, it grows along roads, on embankments, in floodplain forests and meadows, among thickets of shrubs, as well as in fields and vegetable gardens, preferring nutrient-rich, moist soils with an acid reaction.
Horsetail is one of the indicators of acidic soil. Often forms large thickets.
In many respects, the ability of horsetail to reproduce rapidly is explained by the formation of long underground rhizomes, capable of giving rise to many terrestrial shoots in a short time.
The root system in the form of a thin articular rhizome penetrates into the soil to a depth of 30-50 cm to 100 cm.
The bulk of the rhizomes is concentrated at a depth of 30-60 cm. Small nodules are formed at the nodes of the rhizomes, which contain reserves nutrients.
Growth and development of the horsetail
Horsetail is characterized by a pronounced dimorphism of shoots. In early spring, brownish or reddish juicy unbranched upright thick shoots 7-25 cm in height, 3-5 mm in diameter develop, bearing one spore-bearing spikelet at the top.
After ripening and shedding of the spores, these shoots die off and instead of them, sterile summer vegetative shoots 10-50 cm high grow from the same rhizome - much tougher, green, with whorled lateral branches.
The whole plant is tough and rough, as it is saturated with silicic acid.
Horsetail reproduces both vegetatively and by spores. Seedlings from spores and shoots from underground buds appear with the onset of stable warm weather. Sections of rhizomes and nodules, with high vitality, can grow from a depth of up to 60 cm.
Due to the indicated biological characteristics, horsetail has high competitive abilities in relation to cultivated and weed plants, and on acidic soils it becomes a malicious weed.
The economic threshold of harmfulness, that is, the number of weeds that significantly affects the yield of the crop, is 2-5 pieces per 1 sq. meter.
How to deal with horsetail?
The main measures to combat this annoying weed are agrotechnical. Considering the biological characteristics of horsetail and its ecological characteristics, it is necessary to act in two directions:
- Firstly, this plant prefers acidic soils, so first you need to achieve a decrease in acidity.
- Secondly, since horsetail has a deep branching root system, with the help of which it spreads, control measures are applied aimed at its exhaustion. This is regular weeding with careful selection of roots (along with root nodules), as well as deep pruning of the root system with non-moldboard tools.
How to reduce soil acidity?
You can reduce the acidity of the soil by adding lime. Doing so better in autumn... Doses of applied lime depend on the pH value, the mechanical composition of the soil, the humus content in it and the quality of the lime material.
Our advice:
Before adding lime, you need to grind well, since particles larger than 1 mm no longer have a neutralizing effect. Lime is scattered evenly over the soil surface, after which the site is dug to a depth of at least 20 cm. Thorough and uniform mixing of lime with soil increases the efficiency of liming.
If lime is applied unevenly, in places where there was an excess of it (for example, a lump got in), oppression of plants is possible, and even their death.
It should be noted that the rates of application of lime fertilizers depend on the acidity of the soil, its granulometry, composition (on heavy soils, the rate of lime is increased). They must be sufficient to maintain a slightly acidic or nearly neutral soil reaction (pH 5.5-6.0).
In the absence of lime, it can be replaced wood ash, dolomite flour or chalk. Chalk is taken 10-20 kg per hundred square meters, if the soils are light, and 15-20 kg, if the soils are heavy.
In this case, it is better to make 2/3 of the dose for digging or plowing (in the fall), and 1/3 later (in the spring) and fence or rake. Liming is repeated after 5-6 years.
Chalk can be added annually to the rows before sowing or planting vegetable plants, and together with peat, humus, or just with the earth in a ratio of 1: 2. In this case, the dose is reduced to 2-3 kg. If wood ash is introduced, then spruce is taken twice as much as lime or chalk, and birch and pine - one and a half times.
When lime is added, the acidity does not change immediately. Depending on the applied dose, a weakly acidic or neutral reaction is established after 1-2 or even 3 years.
Lime improves soil properties for several years. When adding 300-400 g of lime per 1 sq. meter, its action can last 5-7 years, and at high doses (600-800 g) - 12-15 years.
Our advice:
On soils of light texture (sandy and sandy loam), lime is applied in smaller doses, but treatments are carried out more often (when 100-200 g per 1 square meter are added, its effect lasts about 2 years). On these soils, the introduction of dolomite flour or dolomitized limestone, which, in addition to calcium, contain a lot of magnesium and not only neutralize the acidity of the soil, but also enrich it with magnesium.
Liming will significantly reduce the number of horsetails, because the conditions for its growth will no longer be so favorable. And after a few deep weeding, the horsetail will disappear completely.
Today there are no herbicides that effectively kill horsetail.
Since rhizomes are one of the reproductive organs of horsetail, chemical agents will be effective only with the penetration of drugs into the root system.
Igor Shevchuk, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Horticulture, UAAS
© The Ogorodnik magazine
Photo: depositphotos.com
Horsetail is noticeably superior to other weeds in its ability to take nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from the soil.
We are used to seeing these Christmas trees, but in early spring horsetail may not be recognized. Juicy brownish-pink "candles" appear on damp meadows and wastelands, in ravines and abandoned beds. These first spore-bearing shoots in early summer are replaced by green, tough thin twigs.
Horsetail summer herb has long been used in folk medicine as a hemostatic, diuretic and anti-inflammatory agent.
And yet, despite these virtues, horsetail has a reputation as a vicious weed. It looks small and even boring: it has neither flowers nor spreading leaves. Loves high humidity, prefers light soils. However, I am ready to adapt to the most different conditions.
Like most weeds, horsetail is stubborn and hardy. Where the land has not been disturbed with a plow or a shovel for years, it does not let its black and white rhizome further than 40-50 cm. In crops, it sometimes deepens into the soil by 1.5 m. Imperceptibly, but very persistently, the weed depletes the garden, accumulating in the rhizome with small nodules located on it, reserves of sugars and starch.
Horsetail is especially successful in making its preparations for fallow lands or in a potato field, where he takes a weighty portion of mineral nutrition from the cultivated owner.
Having decided to get rid of this green "predator", do not hope to defeat it by simple weeding. Most likely, after a couple of weeks, with chagrin, you will find that the horsetail on the site has become even more than it was.
And this is not surprising: the nodules of rhizomes remaining in the ground are organs of vegetative reproduction. By destroying the aerial part of the plant, you just forced it to vigorously fight for survival. That's when the nodules with a supply of nutrients came in handy for the weed.
How to get rid of horsetail
How to deal with this harmful plant?
Among other things, the presence of this weed is considered one of the signs of increased soil acidity. It helps to reduce it by introducing dolomite flour or crushed slaked lime for digging.
On a note
Against horsetail, you can apply the herbicide "Glyphos". It blocks the synthesis of aromatic amino acids in plants, as a result of which the weed gradually dies off. It is practically safe for bees, however, it causes a limitation of their flight from 6 to 12 hours.
The biological method of combating horsetail
Field horsetail does not tolerate the neighborhood with cabbage crops (previously called cruciferous). Their root exudates are capable of suppressing weeds. Therefore, in places where the appearance of horsetail was noticed, radish, radish, daikon, rapeseed or mustard should be planted the next year.
Horsetail - traditional medicine recipes
In winter, you can prepare an infusion of horsetail to boost immunity.
Its use will help resist viral infections. 1 tbsp. l. dry herbs pour a glass of boiling water, leave for 1 hour, drain. Drink this amount of infusion in 3-4 doses during the day.
With exacerbation of cystitis, horsetail decoction is used. 2 tbsp. l. Pour dried herbs with 1 liter of water, boil for 10 minutes, let it brew in a warm place for 20 minutes, drain. Take 150-200 ml 2-3 times a day. Do not throw out the squeezed grass, but place it in a gauze bag and apply it warmly to the lower abdomen.
Victor A. Krylov
Horsetail - medicinal plant, which in everyday life is called a cat's eye, whisk, ponytail. On its basis are made medicationsthat help with gallstone disease, diarrhea, eczema, dermatitis, lichen. Of course, in the field of medicine, the plant is of great benefit. As for his stay at the summer cottage, here he acts as a weed, which is rather difficult to get rid of.
Field horsetail is a perennial spore grass that reaches a length of 40-50 cm. The weed has a long creeping rhizome with tuber-like processes, with the help of which the plant propagates in a vegetative way. Aerial shoots (those that are above the ground) are generative and vegetative. Generative ones have a brown or pinkish tint, brown leaf teeth in the form of a triangle. The color of vegetative shoots is green. Erect, with a pointed tip.
Weed grass is propagated by spores. As soon as the latter are ripe, the plant dies off completely. Within a few weeks, the bushes turn green again. Then lateral branches are formed, which outwardly resemble vegetative processes.
Fact. Horsetail is an ancient plant that appeared in nature 400 million years ago.
Horsetail grows in the subarctic, temperate and tropical climate of Eurasia, in North America... The plant actively reproduces on moist sandy soil. Enjoys in great demand in folk medicine.
Why is horsetail dangerous?
It has already been said above that horsetail causes a lot of trouble for summer residents, since it is considered a weed. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that the plant is poisonous. It multiplies actively in the soil, if only a few spores get into the soil, and next year it will fill the entire area. Horsetail eradication is not easy. Weed control is not always successful, even if popular proven remedies are used for this. The main thing in this business is an integrated approach.
Read also:
How to permanently get rid of bindweed (birch) in the garden
Vegetation control methods
With annual digging suburban area, the appearance of weeds can be detected. Its root processes lie at a depth of 40-60 cm. In this regard, it is not always possible to dig them out with an ordinary shovel. As a result, the weed remains intact and begins to grow rapidly. Horsetail can be exterminated using a complex method. How to proceed, we will definitely tell you.
Decrease in acidity
Horsetail is a plant that loves acidic soil. If we take into account this feature of the weed, it will be possible to eradicate it. To do this, it is necessary to reduce the acidity index. The process is rather complicated and requires a lot of time (from six months to 2 years). You can lower the indicator by introducing dolomite flour, slaked lime or ash. These funds will give a positive result, provided the dosage is observed. In the first year, 1 square meter the site will require 2-3 kg of limestone, in the future this amount is reduced by 6 times.
If you combine the procedure for lowering acidity with regular weeding, after a few years you will be able to completely forget about this weed.
Fact... In Japan, a plant like horsetail is used for polishing wooden products in order to give them an unusual shine. For this, the stems of the plant are boiled in a special way.
Chemicals
The field horsetail is classified as a plant that does not bloom and reproduces by spores. To remove it from the summer cottage, you can use herbicides, which are detrimental to different types weeds.
Many drugs have been assigned the IV class of hazardous substances, so they are not capable of harming bees. Herbicides block the synthesis of aromatic amino acids, resulting in weed death and death.
To eradicate weeds, you can use the following drugs: "Prima", "Ground", "Zenkor", "Stomp", "Agrokiller", "Lontrel-300". It is recommended to process the site in the evening. It is best to choose a dry and calm day for this.
Read also:
Features of the fight against dandelions in the garden: how to remove the weed
It is necessary to carry out the treatment with chemicals in rubber gloves. Do not spray the weed in rainy or dry weather. It is necessary to process actively growing grass. If after harvesting young shoots were identified, they must be destroyed immediately. This method will make it easier to fight horsetail next year.
Important! To kill the weed, you can use potent agents in the form of herbicides "Glyphos" or "Titus". In this case harmful substances will penetrate not only into the soil, but also into the fruits themselves.
Biological methods
Horsetail weed does not need to be used to kill horsetail weed. chemicals... You can go the other way. It is enough just to land on the site of his enemies - representatives of the Cruciferous. Horsetail does not tolerate their being around, therefore, if you suspect that it is actively growing, sow cabbage, radish, arugula, rapeseed, and mustard seeds next season. The thing is that they secrete substances from rhizomes that are harmful to weeds. This method will completely eradicate it.
One more safe way to overcome horsetail is mulching or covering the areas where it grows with a black film. In this case, organic and inert materials can be used.
Such an ancient fossil, which survived in all natural disasters, like field horsetail, is not so easy to remove from the garden, because there are legends about its vitality. Rhizomes go into the ground to a depth of two meters, so that even forest fires are not afraid of him. Let's find out if you can defeat him on your site or if you should put up with his neighborhood.
How to get rid of horsetail naturally?
TO effective measures the fight against such a weed as field horsetail, includes planting in its habitat its enemies - plants from the cruciferous family. It can be both vegetables - cabbage, oil radish, and - mustard, rapeseed and others.
Due to the fact that all these plants release substances into the ground that the horsetail cannot tolerate, and thus, in several seasons, you can completely remove an unwanted guest from your site.
Use of chemicals
Industrial chemicals, especially in high concentrations, are capable of killing all living things on the site. But horsetail reacts to it not always positively precisely because of the deep-lying root system. That is why it is so important to start fighting this weed as soon as it appeared on the site and did not have time to go deep into the soil.
To combat horsetail, various herbicides are used, which act both on the greenery and on the underground part of the plant. Very popular with gardeners "Gelifos", which has a high activity in relation to the weed, but harmless to humans, domestic animals and beneficial insects.
Decrease in soil acidity
Before removing horsetail from the garden, you should do a soil analysis - perhaps it has too high acidity, and this is directly related to the active development of the weed. The fact is that this weed plant grows only on acidic peat bogs, and even with high humidity, so these two factors may not play into the hands of the owner of the garden.
After making sure that the PH of the soil exceeds the permissible norm, it is necessary to start taking measures to reduce it. There are two ways for this, and both of them are harmless and even useful - liming the soil and saturating it with ordinary wood ash. Both in a few summer seasons will make even highly acidic soil unsuitable for the development of horsetail.
Ash can be scattered throughout the growing season without risk of harm garden plants, but liming is carried out only in the fall, when the garden has already been harvested. For this, from 2 to 3 kg of fluff lime is taken per 1 m & sup2 in the first year, and subsequently only 500 grams of the substance is used on the same site. This will be enough to bring the soil back to normal and destroy the weed in 2-3 seasons (depending on the initial acidity).
Weeds are very annoying for gardeners, the lion's share of the maintenance of the site is occupied by the destruction of uninvited guests. One of the most insidious and difficult to deduce is the representative of the ancient Khvoshchev family. Having found it in the country, you should take all possible measures to prevent the reproduction of horsetail and get rid of the weed faster. Otherwise cultivated plants will begin to waste away from lack of moisture and nutrients, and the soil will be fruitlessly depleted.
Field horsetail (ordinary) or Pusher is a perennial herbaceous plant, reaching a height of up to 0.5 m. It has a highly developed root system located quite deeply (0.6-1 m). Since the reproduction of horsetail and its development is very active, it can literally fill the entire piece of land in short time.
IN wildlife prefers rather humid places (banks of swamps, reservoirs and rivers) with fertile soil. That is why horsetail grows in the garden so often, for it the conditions are simply ideal (fertilized soil and constant watering of garden crops).
Horsetails are higher spore plants and can reproduce by spores or vegetatively. Green spores in the form of balls ripen in huge amount... During the life of a plant, there is an alternate change of sexual (gametophyte) and asexual (sporophyte) generations, but more often and longer it is asexual.
The weed has two types of aerial shoots:
- Spring - brown, chlorophyll-free (spore-bearing), erect, reaching 20 cm in height.
- Summer - green, jointed, branched, hollow and hard, about 60 cm high, with narrow, underdeveloped leaves.
Field weed appearance
At the tops of spring stems, a large spikelet develops with spores that ripen in mid-late spring and are easily carried by the wind. After which these shoots most often dry out. For the fertilization process, the field horsetail needs moisture on the surface; in unsuitable external conditions, more male specimens are formed.
On creeping rhizomes, short spherical tubers develop, thanks to which vegetative propagation horsetails. Thus, the field weed grows most rapidly and successfully.
Therefore, the gardener often has to deal with the manifestations of asexual reproduction of horsetail, which is a more laborious process due to the large depth of occurrence in the ground and the branching of roots.
To prevent the reproduction of the harmful horsetail sexually, it must be carefully and regularly destroyed in spring spore-bearing shoots, preventing spores from developing.
Pusher sporangia
How to get rid of horsetail
Depending on the conditions of the area, the size of the site, the amount of weediness, the capabilities of the gardener and preferences, you should choose the most suitable method of control. The main thing is that she is consistent, competent and methodical, since a harmful weed will not leave you so easy. Sometimes you have to combine different methodsto achieve complete success.
The pusher is used as a medicinal plant
Mechanical tillage
If horsetail is found on your site, so as not to lose crops, not to impoverish and not dry out the land, you need to start fighting it immediately. It is important to prevent new territories and weed growth. One of the available, but rather laborious, methods is thorough tillage.
In the spring or at autumn digging the soil will have a painstaking robot to remove horsetail rhizomes at the greatest possible depth. You should also check the new imported soil well, especially if it comes from peatlands, picking out all possible residues of the weed (its roots are blackish and inconspicuous).
All selected plants should be removed from the garden and destroyed without leaving a single piece. Since their rooting can come very easily and quickly, nullifying all efforts.
The next stage, which makes it possible to destroy the horsetail, is the constant removal of young shoots sprouting from the remaining roots throughout the season (weeding). It is important to have time to get rid of the sprouts before the green leaves form on them.
This simple method helps to permanently remove horsetail from your garden. Since the weed does not have the ability to accumulate nutrients through photosynthesis, its root, after the sprouts are thrown out, is severely depleted, weakens and dies.
Such a struggle is carried out over several seasons, the weeds must be systematically destroyed to the last plant throughout the entire area so that they do not multiply again.
Mechanical treatment of beds
Reducing soil acidity
How to get rid of horsetail in the garden completely and exclude its reappearance - there is a way in which you need to change the acid-base balance of the soil. The appearance of a pusher on the site is an indicator that the soil has an acidic reaction, since the weed most often grows on such soil. Therefore, you should reduce the pH to a value at which the plant will be uncomfortable to develop.
That is why, when you see a growing field horsetail in your garden, you need to lime the soil. For deoxidation, not only slaked or quicklime, but also dolomite flour, ground chalk, calcite or wood ash. As an assistant eco-friendly material they also take crushed eggshells.
But in this matter it is important not to overdo it, since too alkaline soil is not useful for many crops, it is difficult to obtain nutrients from it. First, it is advisable to determine the degree of acidity of the soil on the site (for satisfactory accuracy, you can use indicator paper, or even better, submit it for analysis to specialists).
The dose of dolomite flour (lime) applied per 1 m 2 depends on the pH value and the type of soil:
- for slightly acidic (pH \u003d 5.1-5.5) medium loamy - 300 g;
- for moderately acidic (pH \u003d 4.6-5.0) - 400-500 g;
- for strongly acidic (pH \u003d 4.0-4.5) - 550-650 g.
Liming the soil
Liming work is best done in autumn period, the deoxidizing material must be evenly distributed over the site and covered with soil (dug up). The main thing is that its particles are small (no more than 3-4 mm), otherwise there will be no expected effect.
To remove horsetail from the garden and forget about the weed forever, you should not only reduce the acidity of the soil once, but also prevent it from increasing later. It is recommended after two years for preventive purposes to reapply a half dose of lime substances. It is necessary to regularly check the composition of the soil and take the necessary measures to correct it.
Horsetail elimination with drugs
An effective method control is a chemical treatment that destroys the weed. To get rid of horsetail, suitable contact herbicides are often used, which, after application, have a depressing effect on the plant. They block the synthesis of amino acids and suppress vegetation, penetrating through the upper integument to the rhizome.
But not all horsetail remedies are good enough for effective disposal... It should be borne in mind that this is a spore plant, and not a flowering plant. Therefore, drugs such as "Tornado" or "Roundup", effectively destroying cereal and dicotyledonous weeds, are less helpful in the fight against horsetail.
Some gardeners advise using the improved Roundup Max. After spraying active substance very quickly penetrates the plant, getting into the rhizomes. Weather conditions have little effect on a good result, and it is possible to sow crops in 1-3 days.
Herbicide treatment
A powerful herbicide is also suitable for these purposes. continuous action "Glyphos". Weeds are completely eradicated in about a month and should be used before planting in the spring or after harvest. After an active period, it breaks down into safe components, does not harm insects and animals.
Helps Get Rid of Horsetail chemically and a drug such as Totril 225. It acts very quickly through the leaves, the first results are visible in a few hours, and the complete dying off of the weeds occurs in a couple of weeks. More effective at good performance illumination and humidity.
Efficiency Secrets and Safety Techniques
General rules herbicide applications are as follows:
- spraying is best done in the evening or early in the morning in calm weather, without precipitation and their possibilities in the coming hours;
- perform work in protective clothing, use respiratory and eye protection (respirator and goggles);
- act carefully and carefully, trying not to get on useful crops and not to miss weeds;
- all requirements of the instructions for use should be strictly observed and no harmful effects on the environment should be allowed.
Sign of high soil acidity
Neighborhood with cruciferous plants
Exists biological method, allowing you to successfully get rid of horsetail in the beds. It is based on the fact that a harmful weed does not tolerate proximity to plants belonging to the Cruciferous family (oil radish, winter rye, arugula, white mustard, winter rapeseed).
If you sow such crops, then you can get the horsetail out of the garden quite easily and safely. Rhizomes of representatives of Cruciferous plants in the process of vital activity secrete substances that inhibit the development of the weed. As a result, he dies completely. Subsequently, the crops can be dug up before winter or early spring, they will enrich the soil with useful substances.
Arugula beds as a way to combat weeds
Insidious horsetail field does not allow many gardeners to sleep peacefully. However, the methodical and systematic destruction of the weed will allow you to forget about it forever. You should familiarize yourself with agrotechnical methods, learn from positive experience and not give up. The desired victory is guaranteed.